Bowyer Finally Wins, Tony Finishes 3rd

Can there be a Nextel Cup Champion who didn’t win a race? I guess it’s possible but not this year. With a dominating run at New Hampshire today, Clint Bowyer moved from 12th to 4th in the points standings.

Bowyer has spent the year under the radar, piling up finishes good enough to make the chase but never visiting Victory Lane. His win in the Sylvania 300 was his first career Nextel Cup victory, and he joined Casey Mears, Martin Truex Jr., and Juan Pablo Montoya as first-time Nextel Cup victors in 2007. Bowyer started from the pole and led 222 of the 300 laps.

Stewart’s third-place finish held him steady at third in points, while Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin’s 15th-place finish dropped him three positions to ninth in points. Stewart is 10 points behind series leaders Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, who are tied for first with 5,210 points. Hamlin is 82 points back of Johnson and Gordon.

Finishing behind Bowyer in second was Gordon, while Stewart, future JGR driver Kyle Busch and Truex rounded out the top-five. Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Mears, Ryan Newman and Yeley comprised the remainder of the top-10.

David Poole from the Charlotte Observer noted that:

It’s a shame fans didn’t get to hear the entire postrace interviews with Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Clint Bowyer. There was some funny stuff. Gordon and Stewart joked about being so far behind when the race finished that Gordon had to drive hard to catch up and offer congratulations to the winner. Stewart didn’t even bother. “I just walked to victory lane,” he said. “I never could catch up to him all day when he was moving.”

There were seven caution periods for 27 laps, with all 43 drivers finishing the 300-lap race. According to the race announcers, who have been wrong before, this is the first time in the modern era that all 43 cars were still running at the end of the race.

Mike over at Nascar Eclectic was at the race so be sure to visit his sight for what I’m sure will be some up close and personal information about the race. He should be posting on Monday.

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